BBC ON THIS DAY | 3 | 1984: Hundreds die in Bhopal chemical accident About This Site | Text Only 1984: Hundreds die in Bhopal chemical accident Hundreds of people have died from the effects of toxic gases which leaked from a chemical factory near the central Indian city of Bhopal. The accident happened in the early hours of this morning at the American-owned Union Carbide Pesticide Plant three miles (4.8 km) from Bhopal. Mr Y P Gokhale, managing director of Union Carbide in India, said that methyl isocyanate gas (MIC) had escaped when a valve in the plant's underground storage tank broke under pressure. Mothers didn't know their children had died, children didn't know their mothers had died and men didn't know their whole families had died<br> Ahmed Khan, Bhopal resident<br> This caused a deadly cloud of lethal gas to float from the factory over Bhopal, which is home to more than 900,000 people - many of whom live in slums. Chaos and panic broke out in the city and surrounding areas as tens of thousands of people attempted to escape.

More than 20,000 people have required hospital treatment for symptoms including swollen eyes, frothing at the mouth and breathing difficulties. Thousands of dead cats, dogs, cows and birds litter the streets and the city's mortuaries are filling up fast. Bhopal resident, Ahmed Khan, said: "We were choking and our eyes were burning. We could barely see the road through the fog, and sirens were blaring. "We didn't know which way to run. Everybody was very confused. "Mothers didn't know their children had died, children didn't know their mothers had died and men didn't know their whole families had died." The Union Carbide factory was closed immediately after the accident and three senior members of staff arrested. Medical and scientific experts have been dispatched to the scene and the Indian government has ordered a judicial inquiry. It is understood the Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, will be flying to the area within the next few days. In Context This was one of the world's worst industrial accidents. <br> Nearly 3,000 people died from the effects of the poisonous gas in the days following the disaster.

<br> Estimates say that some 50,000 people were treated in the first few days suffering terrible side-effects, including blindness, kidney and liver failure. <br> Campaigners say nearly 20,000 others have since died from the effects of the leak. <br> Investigations into the disaster revealed that something had gone fundamentally wrong with a tank storing lethal methyl isocyanate (MIC). <br> In 1989 Union Carbide, which is now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, paid the Indian Government £470m in a settlement which many described as woefully inadequate. <br> But in 1999 a voluntary group in Bhopal which believed not enough had been done to help victims, filed a lawsuit in the United States claiming Union Carbide violated international law and human rights. <br> In November 2002 India said it was seeking the extradition of former Union Carbide boss Warren Anderson from the US. <br> Mr Anderson faces charges of "culpable homicide" for cost-cutting at the plant which is alleged to have compromised safety standards.

<br> In October 2004, the Indian Supreme Court approved a compensation plan drawn up by the state welfare commission to pay nearly $350m to more than 570,000 victims of the disaster. <br> Indian government re-examines 1984 Bhopal disaster - BBC News Indian government re-examines 1984 Bhopal disaster By Chris Morris BBC News, Delhi 18 June 2010 Close share panel Image caption Thousands of people were affected by the gas leak in December 1984 A group of senior Indian government ministers who have been asked to re-examine the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster have held their first meeting. There has been widespread anger in India following the conclusion of a court case last week. More than 25 years after the Bhopal gas leak killed thousands of people, the court finally convicted seven former managers at the plant. They received minor fines and brief prison sentences. The disaster struck when a cloud of toxic gas leaked from a plant run by the American company Union Carbide. 'Inadequate justice' But apart from the efforts of a determined group of campaigners, the incident had been all but forgotten in India.

BHOPAL'S DEATH TOLL Image caption Thousands of people were affected by the gas leak in December 1984 Initial deaths (3-6 December): more than 3,000 - official toll Unofficial initial toll: 7,000-8,000 Total deaths to date: over 15,000 Number affected: Nearly 600,000 Compensation: Union Carbide pays $470m in 1989 Source: Indian Supreme Court, Madhya Pradesh government, Indian Council of Medical Research 'Travesty': Indian papers react That changed after last week's court verdict reminded people how long the victims have had to wait for what is widely seen as inadequate justice. Now a group of senior ministers has been asked to look again at issues such as compensation for those affected, and continued pollution at the now abandoned site of the Union Carbide plant. Home Minister P Chidambaram said recommendations should be finalised on Monday after a series of meetings over the weekend. He said the ministers are looking into the number of people affected and the number of compensation claims which have been accepted so far.

The fact that the Bhopal tragedy is back in the news at the same time as the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has added to the sense that the victims of 1984 have been terribly let down. Commentators in India have pointed out that the US government appears far more concerned about a disaster in its own back yard than it ever was about one which took place in the developing world. There has also been trenchant criticism of the Indian government response over the years, and of Union Carbide - now owned by Dow Chemicals - for its failure to do more to help. GAS LEAK IN INDIA KILLS AT LEAST 410 IN CITY OF BHOPAL - NYTimes.com GAS LEAK IN INDIA KILLS AT LEAST 410 IN CITY OF BHOPAL By SANJOY HAZARIKA, Special to the New York Times Published: December 4, 1984 NEW DELHI, Dec. 3— Toxic gas leaking from an American-owned insecticide plant in central India killed at least 410 people overnight, many as they slept, officials said today.

At least 12,000 were reported injured in the disaster in the city of Bhopal, 2,000 of whom were hospitalized. The death toll in the city and its environs, 360 miles south of New Delhi, was expected to rise as more bodies were found and some of the critically injured died. United News of India put the death toll at 500, but the news agency's figure could not be independently confirmed. Underground Storage Tank An Indian environmental official, T. N. Khushoo, called it the ''worst such disaster in Indian history.'' The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh State, where Bhopal is situated, told reporters that the gas had escaped from one of three underground storage tanks at a Union Carbide Company plant in Bhopal. Witnesses said thousands of people had been taken to hospitals gasping for breath, many frothing at the mouth, their eyes inflamed. The streets were littered with the corpses of dogs, cats, water buffalo, cows and birds killed by the gas, methyl isocyanate, which is widely used in the preparation of insecticides.

Doctors Are Rushed to City Doctors from neighboring towns and the Indian Army were rushed to the city of 900,000, where hospitals were said to be overflowing with the injured. Most of the victims were children and old people who were overwhelmed by the gas and suffocated, Indian press reports said. Even in small amounts, the gas produces heavy discharge from the eyes and is extremely irritating to the skin and internal organs. Exposure can apparently lead to enough fluid accumulation to cause drowning. (Page A8.) (In Danbury, Conn., a spokesman for Union Carbide said it was temporarily closing part of a nearly identical plant in West Virginia while it investigated the Bhopal disaster. ''We don't know what went wrong,'' the spokesman said. Page A8.) Valve Malfunction Suspected The managing director of Union Carbide in India, Y. P. Gokhale, was quoted as saying that the incident occurred when a tank valve apparently malfunctioned after an increase in pressure, allowing the gas to escape into the air in a 40-minute period early today. It was not clear why the pressure had risen or how the leak was stopped. Mr.

Kushoo, the environmental official, said it was still unclear whether it would be necessary to evacuate parts of Bhopal. The poison gas spread through about 25 square miles of Bhopal, an area said to be populated largely by poor families. Gandhi Announces Relief Fund Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, calling the incident ''horrifying,'' announced the creation of a $400,000 Government relief fund. At the same time, the Central Bureau of Investigation was said to have begun an inquiry. Mr. Gandhi, traveling in southern India for the general election campaign, said that ''everything possible will be done to provide relief to the sufferers,'' and added, ''Such mishaps must never be allowed to recur.'' Rewnath Chaure, the Health Minister of Madhya Pradesh State, told a reporter in Bhopal that 302 people had died in one hospital alone. The state's Chief Minister, Arjun Singh, reported that about 2,000 people overcome by the gas fumes were hospitalized. He said at least 10,000 others were treated for symptoms including vomiting, breathing problems and inflamed eyes.

Arrests Are Reported Authorities said five factory officials had been arrested and charged with criminal negligence in the disaster. (In Danbury, Conn., the Union Carbide Company said the reports that the managers had been arrested were incorrect.) The officials reportedly arrested were identified as J. Mukand, the works manager; S. B. Chowdhury, the production manager, and three other officials. It was not known if all were Indian nationals. Most of the initial reports on the leak, which began at 1 A.M. Monday (2:30 P.M. Sunday, New York time) were provided by India's two independent news agencies, Press Trust of India and United News of India, which had reporters on the scene in the early hours of the disaster. According to Press Trust of India, the gas spread over an area of about 200,000 people, many of whom awoke vomiting and complaining of dizziness, sore throats and burning eyes. Many could hardly talk, it reported, and some complained of brief spells of blindness.

United News of India said the factory siren did not sound to alert the neighborhood until two hours after the leak began, and it said the police and doctors did not come into the area until four hours after that. Shutdown Is Announced Mr. Singh, the Chief Minister, announced that he was ordering a shutdown of the Union Carbide plant and pledged not to allow it to resume production. He said the Government might demand that the company pay compensation to the victims. Mr. Singh also ordered schools, colleges, offices and markets closed. In a statewide radio broadcast later, Mr. Singh said the leak had been stopped and described the situation as ''fully under control.'' He urged people not to spread rumors. Reports from Bhopal said thousands fled the city's crowded districts as word of the leak spread. Plant Opened in 1977 The Bhopal plant was opened in 1977 and produces about 2,500 tons of pesticides based on methyl isocyanate annually. In 1978, six people were reported killed when they were exposed to phosgene gas, another lethal mixture produced in the plant.

According to a Union Carbide spokesman, the underground tank in which the leak occurred today contained 45 tons of methyl isocyanate in its liquid form. The chemical is colorless, burns easily and has a low evaporation level. The spokesman said enormous pressure had built up inside the tank, forcing a rupture of a valve and allowing the gas to pass into the air. Safety Features Noted According to a Union Carbide statement in Bombay, the storage tanks had special safety features. The main emergency devices, according to the statement, were vent scrubbers, which it said were ''meant to neutralize and render the gas harmless prior to its release into the atmosphere.'' ''In the accident,'' the statement added, ''the rapid pressure built up resulted in a spurt of gas running unneu tralized which escaped into the atmosphere.'' photo of residents December 2, 1984: Chemical leak kills thousands in Bhopal - BT December 2, 1984: Chemical leak kills thousands in Bhopal A lethal chemical cloud escaped from an American-owned pesticide factory near Bhopal, India, killing as many as 16,000 people and injuring another 500,000.

Print this story The worst industrial disaster ever recorded occurred late on the evening of December 2, 1984, at a chemical factory near the Indian city of Bhopal. A lethal cloud of methyl isocyanate (MIC) and other noxious gases escaped from a faulty underground tank at the American-owned Union Carbide Pesticide plant, which then drifted toward the slum towns scattered around it, and then on to the city itself, some three miles away. Panic broke out as tens of thousands tried to escape the toxic fumes. An official estimate said that 3,787 people died as an immediate result of gas inhalation. Other estimates say 8,000 more perished within two weeks, and another 8,000 in the following months. In total, over 500,000 people are said to have been affected by the leak. Tens of thousands required hospital treatment for symptoms which included coughing, severely stinging eyes, breathing difficulties and stomach cramps. More severe cases suffered blindness, or kidney or liver failure. The plant was immediately closed down and three of its senior management arrested.

In an out-of-court settlement reached in February 1989, Union Carbide agreed to pay $470 million for damages caused in the disaster. What are your memories of the Bhopal disaster? Were any friends or relatives affected by it? Let us know in the Comments below. Bhopal disaster – Did you know? Majority-owned by US company Union Carbide Corporation and run by Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), the plant manufactured pesticide, a process in which MIC was used. There had been small but significant safety issues in the factory over the preceding few years, leading to minor leaks of MIC, phosgene and other toxic gases, all of which resulted in the hospitalisation of workers. The Indian government and some researchers say that the plant was in a state of disrepair, and that several gas lines, valves and tanks were poorly maintained. Union Carbide have always argued that water got into the tank, causing the pressure to rise and gas to escape, due to sabotage. Around 30 tonnes of MIC and other gases were released into the atmosphere by the leak. As most of the gases were heavier than air, the cloud formed stayed close to the ground.

This resulted in shorter people, children and animals being disproportionately affected by it. In spite of Union Carbide organising a team of medical experts to fly into the area, emergency services were soon overwhelmed. Most local practitioners were not aware of how to treat MIC inhalation. According to the government, the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. In 2010 seven Indian ex-employees, including the former UCIL chairman, were convicted for causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about 2,000 rupees each, the maximum punishment allowed by Indian law. Bhopal Gas Victims Still Await Justice 25 Years Later Bhopal Gas Victims Still Await Justice 25 Years Later Last Updated: December 03, 2009 8:01 PM Share Email to a Friend Print India is marking the 25th anniversary of the leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal. The victims have generally been left in a legal haze since the ill-fated night (Dec.

2, 1984) when a toxic-gas cloud spread across the central Indian city. India is marking the 25th anniversary of the leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal. The victims have generally been left in a legal haze since the ill-fated night (Dec. 2, 1984) when a toxic-gas cloud spread across the central Indian city. Victims of the gas leak, accompanied by family members and supporters, took to the streets of Bhopal to demand long-delayed justice. They want accountability for the deaths of thousands of people and the ill effects suffered by - in the Indian government's estimate - a half million individuals. There have been numerous civil and criminal cases, filed in India and the United States. Warren Anderson, 88, who was then chairman of Union Carbide, faces manslaughter charges in India. The United States, five years ago, rejected India's request to extradite him. A nearly one-half-billion dollar settlement was paid by Union Carbide to the Indian government in 1989.

Disabled survivors say what eventually trickled down to them, amounting to an average of a few cents a day since the tragedy, is woefully inadequate to pay medical bills and replace lost income. India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, commented in a statement that the victims "can never really be fully compensated." Mobile protest truck in New Delhi marking 25th anniversary of Bhopal gas leak. The parent company of the Indian subsidiary was bought by Dow Chemical of the United States in 1999. Dow maintains all legal liabilities were settled with that one-time payment. New York-based lawyer Rajan Sharma, who represents Bhopal plaintiffs in a groundwater contamination case, filed in 1999, disputes Dow's stance. "The U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected that argument at least four times," Sharma said. "There is absolutely no doubt the present-day litigation that concerns environmental pollution stemming from the Bhopal plant is completely outside the scope of the 1989 settlement." Sharma, speaking to VOA from Bhopal, says he hopes American judges will rule the plant's original owner is legally responsible, no matter how much time has passed.

"We are cautiously hopeful that the American courts will see that Union Carbide is playing a game here whereby it will not submit to the jurisdiction of India's courts. It will not allow India to apply its own laws to address this problem. The American courts will see that if they do not address this Union Carbide will essentially to have been allowed or permitted to escape liability altogether." Dow declined VOA's requests for an interview. Anti-Dow Chemical petition signed by Delhi college students. Union Carbide claimed a disgruntled employee sabotaged the plant, causing the leak of tons of toxic gases. Activists contend a faulty plant design or neglect was to blame. Union Carbide documents no one has bothered to remove remain at the neglected site inside buildings with broken doors and smashed windows. Lawyers and activists say the files, could be pertinent to the lingering legal cases. Telegrams and other papers obtained by VOA from the site discuss leaks and other problems at the facility prior to the December 1984 disaster. The full picture is slowly vanishing, however. Security guards on the site say they use the remaining documents to light fires on chilly nights.

Why my family are fighting for justice - 20 years on | Environment | The Guardian Bhopal Why my family are fighting for justice - 20 years on By a twist of fate, Anushka Asthana's grandparents survived the gas cloud that devastated the Indian city of Bhopal. But, she finds, the city's tragedy is still unfolding Bhopal Why my family are fighting for justice - 20 years on By a twist of fate, Anushka Asthana's grandparents survived the gas cloud that devastated the Indian city of Bhopal. But, she finds, the city's tragedy is still unfolding Share on Messenger Close Twenty years ago my grandparents, Trilok Nath and Kamla Bahel, boarded a night train from the Indian city of Hyderabad to their home in Bhopal. They were lucky. It was delayed. Had the train left on time they would almost certainly have died. Just after midnight, on 3 December 1984, the world's worst industrial tragedy hit their home city while they were stuck in their carriage. A cloud of gas surged across the area after a series of safety failures at the local pesticide plant allowed a tank containing methyl isocyanate to spill its deadly contents.

By the most conservative estimates, 3,000 people died that night. Many dropped dead as they fled. Unofficial figures put the death toll at 8,000. Entire families were killed, many people disappeared without record. Worse, the deaths continued. Some believe numbers of Bhopal's victims now exceed 20,000, while tens of thousands continue to suffer from chronic illnesses. The city's miscarriage rate is seven times the national Indian average, and rates of skin, lung and gastro-intestinal cancers have soared. Every day 4,000 people queue at the city's gas relief hospitals with ailments ranging from damaged lungs and severe heart problems to wrecked immune systems and diseases such as tuberculosis. This is the real scandal, and tragedy, of Bhopal . Its suffering started dramatically in 1984 but it did not end then. I returned last week and found that the site of the Union Carbide's pesticide plant - from which that now infamous plume of methyl isocyanate, or MIC, poured that night - is still a toxic time bomb. I walked through the dusty, abandoned buildings of the former plant. The stink of chemicals filled my nose.

I pulled my jumper over my face and looked around at the markings on the wall: DA/1, DA/2, up to DA/24. 'This stands for dump area, where they left the toxins after testing,' said T.R. Chouhan, a chemical plant operator when the accident happened, and author of Bhopal: The Inside story . Chouhan pointed out huge areas of land where toxic waste had been discarded. A young girl had built a swing with a tyre and was giggling as she swayed across it. Chouhan rubbed his finger on a white substance caked into a rusting metal structure: 'Powdered mercury. During the rainy season it gets mixed in with the water and spreads,' he said. When the company's lease on the plant ran out in 1999, it simply abandoned it, leaving 5,000 tonnes of process and waste materials. The toxins dumped in the ground still contaminate water that is drunk by 20,000 local people. Campaigners called it 'a victory' when in May this year, India's Supreme Court stated that clean water must be provided for these residents. This has not yet happened.

Not surprisingly, the name of Union Carbide generates resentment and hatred here. On Thursday, thousands of people will take to the streets in Bhopal marking the disaster's anniversary. 'If this happened in London do you think the site would not have been cleared?' said Rachna Dhingra, co-ordinator for the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal. Within three years America has handed out punishment and compensation following the events of 11 September, but Bhopal is still waiting. Dhingra said: 'People here realise they are the wrong class of people and the wrong race of people.' You can see the evidence of the wrecked lives of these people at Jai Prakash Nagar, near the pesticide plant. One side of the road is lined with shacks. Along the other side runs a long boundary wall ringing the site. Women sit cross-legged outside homes washing clothes in buckets. Men wearing kurta pyjamas swing themselves up on to the back of trucks to get lifts. A crowd gathered around a dead cow. It had wandered into the factory site and died. This is Bhopal today.

Everywhere I travelled people had their own, terrible memories of that night: the taxi driver, policeman, security guard and the shopkeeper. Shahid Noor lost both his parents. 'We put my mother on a tanker heading out of town,' he told me as he sat on his stone floor with his son in his arms. 'She died before I saw her again.' Outside Jawahar Lal Nehru hospital, women gathered round holding out their medical notes. Hasina Bano has gone completely blind in one eye. Her friend has TB. They blame the gas. 'The health problems are chronic. Every day we have more and more people walking through our door,' said Satinath Sarangi, managing trustee of the Sambhavna Trust, a charitable trust that provides medical care for victims and carries out research. Today, there are 23 gas relief hospitals to help victims, though there are few resources to deal with psychological problems. Noor told me of a friend who lost seven family members in the tragedy: 'He has tried to commit suicide four times.' Then there is my grandfather, Trilok. He is fixated on how the accident happened. He brought out a notebook where he had jotted down the detailed chemical process.

'It wasn't one small mistake,' he told me. 'It was negligence.' In fact, there were a series of shortcomings in the management of the Bhopal plant. The chemical was stored for too long, and its check gauges were monitored manually. Union Carbide had been warned that an accident was waiting to happen. On the night of 3 December 1984, it happened. Tank 610 disgorged its contents: methyl isocyanate, a derivative of the phosgene gas used as a chemical weapon in the First World War and a key ingredient of the pesticide Sevin that the company was making for the Indian market. Mixed with water, MIC boils dangerously and will eventually erupt. Such behaviour was well known. Four different safety systems were therefore installed to prevent a leak of water into the plant's MIC tank. That night, none of them worked. Flares that could have burnt the escaping gas, and caustic washes that could have neutralised it, were not working or had been turned off. A drought had diminished need for Sevin, and Union Carbide was attempting to save money.

The result was the release of a thick cloud of the gas which poured over the city's railway station and into local slums. When my grandparents arrived the next day in Bhopal, a dreadful pall still hung over the city. 'My eyes started streaming - they were burning as though someone had thrown chilli powder into them', said my grandmother, Kamla. Leaves on the trees had turned from green to dirty yellow. Dead animals lay strewn around. 'In Bhopal the factory was built very near to people's homes,' said my grandfather. 'Do corporations care less when people are poor?' The company says it accepted moral responsibility for the tragedy immediately after it occurred and that it has nothing but the highest respect and compassion for the people of Bhopal. 'This commitment was reflected in our relief efforts,' Tomm F. Sprick, director of the Union Carbide information centre told The Observer. Sprick said the plant was managed by Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), a company jointly owned by Union Carbide, Indian financial institutions and private investors in India . 'In 1994 Union Carbide sold its share in UCIL.

In 1998, the state government of Madhya Pradesh revoked this company's lease on the property and publicly assumed control.' Government officials said they do not have the resources nor technical expertise to deal with the clean-up. Sprick distanced Dow Chemicals, which bought Union Carbide in 1999, from the problem: 'Though a subsidiary of Dow, Union Carbide is a separate company.' My grandfather was not convinced: 'If they accept moral responsibility, why are they so quick to shift the blame?' It is a view shared by his fellow Bhopal residents. As part of this week's demonstrations, they will burn an effigy of Warren Anderson, the chairman of the Union Carbide Corporation in 1984. Anderson was arrested in India after the tragedy but was bailed after the America government put pressure on Indian authorities. He fled to America, never to return. However, there are some signs that the US is beginning to take notice. A resolution introduced in the House of Representatives in recognition of the anniversary states that as many as 30 people are dying every month and 150,000 suffer long-term health consequences at Bhopal.

It points to conclusions made by organisations that Union Carbide had 'inadequate technology, double standards in safety... compounded by a reckless cost-cutting drive at the plant' and criticises the company's refusal to stand trial in the criminal case after being summoned by Bhopal District Court in 1992. It also acknowledges international condemnation of the level of compensation. After initially seeking $3 billion from Union Carbide, the Indian government eventually settled for $470m in 1989. Union Carbide cite India's Supreme Court where the settlement was described as 'just, equitable and reasonable.' Others say it was a deal struck because the government did not want to deter future investment. Certainly, compensation in many cases has been derisory. In Jai Prakash Nagar, many victims received the basic level of compensation: 200 rupees (£2.35) a month. Even those who were classed as the most severe victims got shamelessly little. 'If someone smokes cigarettes in Texas they can get thousands of pounds in compensation,' said Rashida Bee, a key campaigner and survivor. 'Here thousands lost lives and others are living corpses.

Where is the justice?' 20 Years Since Union Carbide Agreed To Pay $470 Million For Bhopal Disaster Photos and Images | Getty Images 20 Years Since Union Carbide Agreed To Pay $470 Million For Bhopal Disaster July 24, 2006 License An Indian victim of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy wears a mask and shouts...An Indian victim of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy wears a mask and shouts anti-government and anti-Union Carbide slogans during a protest in New Delhi, 24 July 2006. The protestors demanded justice for victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy which took place in December 1984 when a cloud of noxious gas emitted from a Union Carbide Factory and killed more than 8,000 people and injured in the region of 200,000.

LessMore 20 Years Since Union Carbide Agreed To Pay $470 Million For Bhopal Disaster June 04, 2003 License Indian political activits wearing masks protest in front of the Union Carbide...Indian political activits wearing masks protest in front of the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, 04 June 2003 to raise awarness about the toxic waste of the factory and its surroundings. An estimated 3,500 to 7,500 people were killed and more than half a million seriously injured when toxic gas leaked from the pesticide plant in December 1984. Since then, survivors, residents and various activists regulary carry out demonstrations to demand the cleaning of the site. LessMore Bhopal gas tragedy Bhopal gas tragedy The Bhopal gas tragedy Some 3,500 people died immediately when a storage tank of the plant run by US group Union Carbide -- bought by Dow Chemicals in 1999 -- spewed the poison gas over the populated slums of Bhopal in central India.

The total death toll from pollution and its side effects had climbed to more than 15,000 by 2007, according to government figures, but Indian rights activists say the real figure is double that. Union Carbide Bhopal where more than 15000 killed The Bhopal gas tragedy was the greatest industrial disaster in the world that took place at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in the Indian city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. At midnight on 3 December 1984, the plant accidentally released methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, exposing more than 500,000 people to MIC and other chemicals. The first official immediate death toll was 2,259. The government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release Others estimate 8,000-10,000 died within 72 hours and 25,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.

Some 26 years after the gas leak, 390 tonnes of toxic chemicals abandoned at the Union Carbide plant continue to pollute the ground water in the region and affects thousands residents of Bhopal who depend on it .There are currently civil and criminal cases related to the disaster ongoing in the United States District Court, Manhattan and the District Court of Bhopal, India against Union Carbide, now owned by Dow Chemical Company, with arrest warrants pending against Warren Anderson, CEO of Union Carbide at the time of the disaster The Union Carbide India, Limited (UCIL) factory was established in 1969 near Bhopal. 51% was owned by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and 49% by Indian authorities. It produced the pesticide carbaryl (trademark Sevin). In 1979 a methyl isocyanate (MIC) production plant was added to the site. MIC, an intermediate in carbaryl manufacture, was used instead of less hazardous but more expensive materials. During the night of December 2ï¿½3, 1984, large amounts of water entered tank 610, containing 42 tonnes of methyl isocyanate.

The resulting reaction increased the temperature inside the tank, raising the pressure to a level the tank was not designed to withstand. This forced the emergency venting of pressure from the MIC holding tank, releasing a large volume of toxic gases. A mixture of poisonous gases flooded the city of Bhopal, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs. Thousands died immediately from the effects of the gas and many were trampled in the panic. The gas cloud composed stayed close to the ground and spread outwards through the surrounding community. The initial effects of exposure were coughing, vomiting, severe eye irritation and a feeling of suffocation. People awakened by these symptoms fled away from the plant. Thousands of people had succumbed by the morning hours. There were mass funerals and mass cremations as well as disposal of bodies in the Narmada river. 170,000 people were treated at hospitals and temporary dispensaries. 2,000 buffalo, goats, and other animals were collected and buried. Within a few days, leaves on trees yellowed and fell off. Supplies, including food, became scarce owing to suppliers' safety fears.

A total of 36 wards were marked by the authorities as being "gas affected", affecting a population of 520,000. Of these, 200,000 were below 15 years of age, and 3,000 were pregnant women. In 1991, 3,928 deaths had been certified. Independent organizations recorded 8,000 dead in the first days. Other estimations vary between 10,000 and 30,000. Another 100,000 to 200,000 people are estimated to have permanent injuries of different degrees. The 26th anniversary of Bhopal gas tragedy Twenty-six years after the Bhopal gas disaster left the city devastated, the victims continue to be plagued with a host of problems with no solution in sight. Survivors of the world's worst industrial disaster in India's Bhopal city are outraged by plans to throw open the site to visitors.

Last year in the first week of Novemeber 2009, `the Madhya Pradesh state authorities announced that the sealed pesticide plant that leaked deadly methyl isocyanate gas on December 3, 1984 is to be opened to the public for a week to coincide with the 25th anniversary Supreme court verdict on May 11, 2011 Supreme court on May 11, 2011 dismissed a government petition seeking harsher sentences for seven people convicted for their role in the Bhopal industrial disaster that killed thousands of people in 1984. The seven employees of U.S.chemical firm Union Carbide, whose plant leaked toxic gases, were given two years imprisonment by a lower court last June for negligence leading to the world's worst industrial accident. The court decision sparked outrage and forced the government to approach the Supreme Court to seek a tougher penalty on grounds of homicide. But the Supreme Court said there was not enough reason to build a case of culpable homicide which could lead to a stiffer sentence. "The materials produced do not meet the requirement (for homicide)," Chief Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia said as he read out the judgement.

The court's order will be a relief for the convicted, who include Keshub Mahindra, the current chairman of India's top utility vehicle and tractor maker Mahindra & Mahindra . He was the chairman of Union Carbide India in 1984. On June 7, 2010, nearly 26 years after world's worst industrial disaster left over 15,000 dead, former Union Carbide India Chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others were sentenced to two years imprisonment. The outcome of the case came under attack from civil rights activists and political parties. 89-year-old Anderson, the then Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation of USA, who lives in the United States, appeared to have gone scot-free for the present as he is still an absconder and did not subject himself to trial. There was no word about him in the judgement of the Bhopal court. Law Minister Veerappa Moily on June 8, 2010 said the case against former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson in connection with the Bhopal gas tragedy was not closed. This is one case where justice is delayed and practically denied.

I would like to say justice is buried says Law Minister Veerappa Moily. The Minister had on Monday said that the government will fast-track the Bhopal gas tragedy case in the High Court as it has learnt "big lessons" from the verdict and could go in for a stand-alone legislation to ensure that the culprits in such incidents are brought to book effectively. Government announced a Rs 1265.56-crore package Due to outrage over the trial courtï¿½s verdict in the Bhopal gas tragedy, Government announced a Rs 1265.56-crore package and decided to file a curative petition in the Supreme Court besides pushing for extradition of the former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson on June 24, 2010 The Union cabinet, which considered the report of the Group of Ministers on the 1984 disaster, accepted all its 22 recommendations but did not fix liability on anybody.

It decided that the opinion of the attorney general would be sought on whether Dow Chemicals or any other successor to Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) or Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) could be held liable, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters. The cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decided that ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh would be given to the kin of each killed in the tragedy, Rs 5 lakh to those who suffered permanent disability, Rs 2 lakh each to people who suffered cancer and total renal failure and Rs 1 lakh to those with temporary disability. The ex-gratia would benefit 45,000 affected people and the amount would be paid after adjusting the compensation already paid, Soni said. The government also announced various packages for remediation, rehabilitation and other measures, taking the total spending to Rs 1265.56 crore. The cabinet decided that additional material in support of the request for extradition of Anderson may be put together by concerned agencies and the External Affairs Ministry would thereafter press the request for extradition with the US government, she said.

India had made requests for Andersonï¿½s extradition earlier, the last being in 2008, but these have not been entertained by the United States. It was also decided that a curative petition may be filed in the Supreme Court for reconsideration of its judgement of September 9, 1996, by which the ï¿½graver sectionsï¿½ of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were quashed against the accused and the trial was confined to offence under Section 304 (A), Soni said. The dilution of charges had ensured that the accused could get only two years of maximum imprisonment. There has been a national outrage over quantum of punishment after the Bhopal trial court gave the maximum punishment to some of the accused on June 7. The Cabinet decided that an appeal will be filed in the Sessions Court against the judgment of the trial court to correct the error in the sentences imposed on the accused under different sections, Soni said. The errors pertain to the term of imprisonment (Section 338), the amount of fine (Section 304A), and the direction that the sentences shall run concurrently. Campaigners dismiss Bhopal compensation as insufficient.

Campaigners say that the $280m compensation package is based on outdated numbers of the dead and the maimed. They say that 525,000 people have died or been disabled by the toxic gas during the leak and its aftermath. Campaigners also want the government to treat the bulk of victims as "permanently injured", instead of "temporarily injured", since they have to visit hospitals regularly for treatment. They also want them to receive more compensation. Who is responsible for Bhopal gas tragedy? On June 24, 2010, to repeated questions on who was liable for the tragedy, Soni said the attorney general will examine the issue. ï¿½We have to wait for the AGï¿½s advice,ï¿½ she said. Asked whether any timeline has been set for the AGï¿½s advice, she replied in the negative but said ï¿½the sense of urgency is all aroundï¿½ and the AG would also submit his opinion in the shortest possible time.

Appropriate applications will be filed before the courts concerned and request the courts, especially the High Court, to expeditiously decide the question of liability of the Dow Chemicals Company and/ or any other successor to UCC/UCIL, she said. . PC Alexander, the principal secretary to Rajiv Gandhi, has hinted that the prime minister might have taken the decision to release the former chairman of Union Carbide Corp Warren Anderson in consultation with Arjun Singh, the then Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, media reports say. According Headlines Today, Alexander said Anderson could not have escaped without the help of the state government and that he was let go keeping in mind the larger interest and under pressure. Arjun Singh met Rajiv Gandhi after a Cabinet Committee Political Affairs meeting and that Anderson was supposed to be out under house arrest and all senior officials were in the dark about his release. Attesting the same thing, a CNN-IBN/ report said that a declassified CIA documents show that Anderson was released after being arrested on December 7 on the orders of the Rajiv Gandhi government. The documents were dated dated 8 December 1984 a day after Anderson left India and five days after the deadly gas leaked from Union Carbide's Bhopal plant.

On December 7, Warren Anderson was arrested but was later released the same day and was flown out of Bhopal in a state government plane to New Delhi. Environmental pollution around factory A year after the gas leak, the local authorities collected 350 tonnes of waste and left it in the factory yard, ignoring all safe waste management practices. In the past two decades, several studies have concluded that the material containing toxins and heavy metals has leeched into the ground, contaminating groundwater --- the only source of drinking water for 20,000 people nearby. A 2004 high court order requiring the state government to clean up the waste has resulted in only partial clearance. Bhopal still drinks poison: CSE study A study by Indian non-profit organisation the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) last year showed groundwater three kilometres (two miles) from the plant contained 110 times the maximum quantity of the pesticide carbaryl deemed safe in Indian bottled water. "The factory site in Bhopal is leading to chronic toxicity -- continuous tiny exposure leading to poisoning," said the director of the CSE, Sunita Narain.

The local government in Madhya Pradesh, of which Bhopal is the capital, acknowledges the waste is still there. 25 years after the worldï¿½s worst chemical disaster in India left thousands dead and lakhs affected, Old Bhopal wonders whether the water it drinks is still toxic or not. Releasing findings of a study done November 2009, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said that water inside the 80-acre site of Union Carbide, and in a radius of up to three kilometres outside, contains pesticide far higher than the acceptable limit for human beings. CSE director Sunita Narain said there was evidence that the chemicals from Union Carbide leak on the night of December 3, 1984 continue to poison the people through the water they drink. While piped water is being supplied in most areas, people are heavily dependent on borewells too. Poisonous chemical waste Another dimension of the ongoing tragedy of Bhopal is the poisonous chemical waste lying around in the abandoned premises of the pesticide plant.

Several committees have inspected it and found 44,000 kgs of tarry residues and 25,000 kgs of alpha naphthol lying in the open since 1984. Various studies have established that the soil, ground water, vegetables and even breast milk have traces of toxic chemicals. Earlier research conducted by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Pollution Control Board, City Environmental Laboratory (Boston) and environmental NGO Greenpeace also found extremely high levels of toxins like carbaryl, lindane and alpha napthol in the soil and water around the factory areas. Medical Data Suppressed in Bhopal Gas Leak In some shocking news, the government appears to have ignored the long-term health effects posed to people after exposure to the Methyl Isocynate (MIC) gas in the Bhopal gas tragedy.The government also cites the work of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in dismissing claims that exposure to MIC causes congenital deformities and cancer .NR Bhandari, a principal investigator for the ICMR in five out of 20 projects told NDTV that the research data had not been published at all.

"All the data was collected, we were analysing and preparing it. When we asked the ICMR for permission to publish the data from time to time, they said no, you need not publish. At no stage were we allowed to publish any data or give any lectures," Bhandari said. The government is obviously in denial mode, but it is clear that thousands of people are still suffering from the effects of the gas leak 25 years after the incident occurred.

BHOPAL'S DEATH TOLL * Initial deaths (3-6 December): more than 3,000 - official toll * Unofficial initial toll: 7,000-8,000 * Total deaths to date: over 15,000 * Number affected: Nearly 600,000 * Compensation: Union Carbide pays $470m in 1989 Source: Indian Supreme Court, Madhya Pradesh government, Indian Council of Medical Research Bhopal demands justice 30 years after deadliest industrial disaster-TRFN Bhopal demands justice 30 years after deadliest industrial disaster-TRFN Share By Nita Bhalla BHOPAL, India, Dec 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hundreds of people marched through the central Indian city of Bhopal late Tuesday, waving flaming torches to commemorate the thousands who perished in the world's deadliest industrial disaster and demanding justice for survivors who continue to suffer three decades on. In the early hours of December 3, 1984, around 40 metric tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate gas accidentally leaked from a pesticide factory owned by U.S.

multinational Union Carbide Corp. and was carried by the wind into the surrounding slums. The government recorded 5,295 deaths. Activists estimate 25,000 people have died from illnesses in the years since. Many more, they said, are dealing with cancer, blindness, respiratory difficulties and immune and neurological disorders, but with no support. "We are here to demand our rights from both the Indian government and Union Carbide," said Kamla Bhai, 70, as she walked alongside other survivors, activists and supporters through Bhopal's bustling streets to the abandoned factory site. "We lost our children, we lost our husbands, we lost our mothers, we lost our fathers, yet we have been ignored by the government and cheated by the corporate for the last thirty years. Their treatment has been shameful." Bhai, whose husband died from cancer five years after the calamity, said survivors needed health care and financial compensation, while a second and third generation of children with congenital deformities needed special medical treatment. Others at the rally called for the clean-up of thousands of tonnes of toxic waste, buried by the company inside and outside the plant.

The waste has seeped into the ground and poisoned the drinking water of 50,000 people living around the site. FALSE CLAIMS, DOUBLE STANDARDS The government of Madhya Pradesh state, where Bhopal is located, said that the Supreme Court decides who are the beneficiaries eligible for compensation and free health care. "Every affected person has been listed and this has been put before the Supreme Court and the court has decided, after extensive examination of their cases, what is to be paid and to whom," said Pravir Krishn, the state's principal secretary at the department in charge of relief and rehabilitation for Bhopal's victims. Krishn said some impoverished families seeking compensation for sicknesses or medical help for their disabled children, who suffer from diseases such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy, were not from contaminated locations, suggesting they falsely claimed to be victims of the tragedy. He said the state has provided 40 billion rupees ($650 million) to 575,000 people identified by the Supreme Court as being affected by the disaster, built six state-of-the art hospitals and provided houses for many victims. U.S.

company Dow Chemical, which now owns Union Carbide, has denied liability, saying it bought the company a decade after Union Carbide settled its liabilities to the Indian government in 1989 by paying $470 million. Activists said that was a paltry sum based on a gross underestimate of the human suffering caused by the calamity. Various petitions to hold Dow to account for increased compensation as well as the cleaning up of toxic waste are being pressed in Indian and American courts. "The time has come to bring Dow and Carbide to justice. No more hiding behind share ownership and legal loopholes," said Salil Shetty, Secretary-General of Amnesty International. "The double standards are outrageous. If the same disaster had been caused by an Indian company on U.S. soil, there is no way they would have got away with it." "MINI BHOPALS" While many events surrounding the disaster's anniversary have focused on issues such as the lack of health care, compensation and job opportunities for survivors and their families, others have questioned whether another Bhopal could happen. Delhi-based think-tank Centre for Science and Environment on Monday released a new book which found that India has laws for hazardous waste management and industrial disasters, but there is no compliance.

"While we have thankfully not witnessed another major Bhopal-type disaster in the last 30 years, we have a number of mini Bhopals - which are small types of gas leaks from industry - happening all over the country," said Sunita Narain, CSE's director. Read More Last Saturday, for example, a chlorine gas leak from a factory just 40 km (25 miles) from Bhopal sickened 44 people and caused widespread panic in the Mandideep area, media reports said. "Thirty years after the horrific industrial disaster, India needs to finish the job it started and now work on strengthening institutions, tools of compliance and monitoring and putting in place a strict corporate liability regime," Narain told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. (Reporting by Nita Bhalla, Editing by Lisa Anderson) Reblog

Question: Which Indian city was devastated by a toxic gas escape in 1984?
Answer: Bhopal